Plug-in chamber furnace

ABSTRACT

A burn-out furnace having separate upper and lower units with the upper unit being detachably mountable on the lower unit, one of said upper and lower units being the element-containing ceramic furnace and the other of the units being the electronic control therefor with the circuits of the two separate units being connectable by a plug-in male and female jack unit, the male jack being associated with one unit and the female jack being associated with the other unit, additionally in a preferred embodiment the furnace door being pivotably mounted on a support extending from the electronic control unit and the door being openable and closable by a handle detachably connected to the door and mountable in opposite alternative directions for a lefthanded operator as opposed to a right-handed operator.

United States Patent 1 1 Green et al.

( 1 Aug. 7, 1973 I PLUG-1N CHAMBER FURNACE [22] Filed: Oct. 8, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 187,679

[52] U.S. Cl 219/390, 13/20, 219/407,

219/412, 219/521 [51] Int. Cl. F27b 5/14 [58] Field of Search 219/345, 390, 393,

OTHER PUBLICATIONS American Instrument Company, p. 54.

Primary Examiner-Volodymyr Y. Mayewsky Attorney-William T. Hough [57] ABSTRACT A burn-out furnace having separate upper and lower units with the upper unit being detachably mountable on the lower unit, one of said upper and lower units being the element-containing ceramic furnace and the other of the units being the electronic control therefor with the circuits of the two separate units being connectable by a plug-in male and female jack unit, the male jack being associated with one unit and the female jack being associated with the other unit, additionally in a preferred embodiment the furnace door being pivotably mounted on a support extending from the electronic control unit and the door being openable and closable by a handle detachably connected to the door and mountable in opposite alternative directions for a left-handed operator as opposed to a right-handed operator.

2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Patented Aug. 7, 1973 3,751,633

IN VENTORS William Green BY hzhak Heisler Wkf Attorneys.

PLUG-IN CHAMBER FURNACE This invention relates to an improvement in burn-out furnaces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Prior to this invention, for many years there have been manufactured by various manufacturers and sold to diversified industries and research laboratories burnout furnaces for the burning-out of various chemicals and the like which over a period of continued use eventually result in the etching-out and/or the cracking of the ceramic tiles and the elements associated therewith in the furance-containing compartment of the burn-out furnace which heretofore has been a single unit with the. two separate compartments, the one compartment being the furnace itself and the other compartment containing the instrumentation for the electronic controls such as the controlling temperature intensity, duration, and the like. Upon the failure of the ceramic lining and/or the elements of the furnace, for years it has been the practice and the only practical choice to discard the entire unit and repurchase another new unit because of the lack of economy and high cost of and impracticability of taking out the broken ceramics and /or elements and replacing with new elements, together with the cutting of circuit leads and soldering on of new circuit leads, and'the like. Additionally involved, is the period required for such a repair during which time the research or industrial facility would be without the use of the needed burn-out furnace. For the above and other reasons, a prior development by the present inventor was a unit having the upper and lower compartmentsof the unitary unit in which the ceramic insulation was semi-removable and replaceable by another ceramic unit slidable. into the furnace compartment; that improvement upon which a patent issued nevertheless requiring extensive workmanship to cut the wire circuits connecting the control compartment with the heating elementsand the withdrawal of the deteriorated or broken tiles and the insertion of the new tiles, this as before requiring that the burn-out furnace be out of operation for an extended period of time as well as the cost of the operation together with the cost of the replacement ceramic insulation. All of these matters considered together made such a unit of little practical benefit costwise and timewise as opposed to mere repurchaseof a brandnew unit which avoided the cost of repair and the loss of operational time duringwhich re pair normally would be taking place, as well as the avoidanceof the still high cost of the replacement cerainic insulation. I 7

Another factor involved which made the situation with the burn-out furnaces distasteful to industry was the fact that normally when the furnace ceramics and /or elements went bad i.e. failed, the electronic controls as well as the door and the containers themselves were otherwise in still reasonably good condition but nevertheless had to be discarded as a total lost investment.

SUMMARY oF- THEINVENTION The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the priorproblems of the type discussed above, as well asthe presence of additional benefits and advantages.

Another object of the present invention is a unit which improves the long term cost-picture economically of the utilization of such units, together with improved adaptability to different workers irrespective of their being left-handed or right-handed respectively.

Other objects become apparent from the preceding and following disclosure.

One or more of the preceding objects are obtained by the present invention as defined hereafter.

The present invention broadly is directed to a burnout furnace combination having at least two separate compartments, one of which compartments houses the heat-insulation such as the furnace ceramics and heating elements, and the other of which compartments houses the electronic controls of a conventional or otherwise desirable type, with one of the compartments being detachably mountable on the other compartment with the connections of their respective circuits being by way of a simple electrical connector unit such as male and female jacks respectively matable with one another, one extending from one compartments circuit and the other extending from the other compartments circuit, for example. The unit containing the ceramics or other heat insulation and the heating elements is a disposable unit, easily detachable from the control unit and replaceable by a new furnace-chamber unit newly attachable to the old electronic-component-containing unit. In a preferred embodiment, making the inventive combination even more practical and desirable, the furnace door is mounted on a support extending from the control unit whereby when the entire furnace unit is discarded, the furnace door and its mountings are nevertheless remaining attached to the electroniccontrol unit, thereby not only salvaging for the continued use the furnance door and support therefor but additionally concurrently avoiding a higher cost of a replacement furnace containing unit. In addition to the above, the conventional arm extendable'from the furnace door having a handle thereon for opening and closing the furnace door is detachable by virtue of suitable detaching means such as set screws easily unscrewed, or wing nuts, or the like, whereby the arm may be slid out of its position and inserted from the reverse direction making the arm suitable for. manipulation of the door by either a right-handed person or alternatively by a left-handed person. Accordingly, the invention as broadly described above includes several benefits not heretofore obtainable all of which are coordinated in obtaining improved utilization of a burnout furnace bythe operating personnel as welliasfreducing costs of andthe elimination of repairs and dis= card of entire units together with the purchaseof new units, it being possible by virtue of the present invention merely to purchase the furnace chamber unit to slidably or otherwise detachably mount the new inexpensive unit as a replacement for the burned-out or otherwise broken furnace unit.

THE FIGURES FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a typical unit of this invention.

FIG. la illustrates a perspective enlarged in-part view of the mounting for the door hinge as mounted on the lower unit as well as the particulars of the door hinge mounting.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional in-part view taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1, illustrating the construction of a slide connecting device by which the top compartment is slidably connected to the bottom compartment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective in-part view of an alternative embodiment in which the door hinge structure is removably mounted on the upper furnace unit compartment.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the rear view illustrating upper and lower compartments and mounting means therebetween, with the upper and lower units respectively having mating male and female electrical connectors.

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of this invention basically differing from other embodiments only in that the door is detachably slidably mounted on the furnace chamber.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view ofa typical burnout furnace 6 of this invention, illustrating an upper ceramic furnace compartment 7 and a lower instrumentcompartment 8 detachably connected by a slide connector 9. The furnace door 10 is pivotably mounted by structure 12 around axis 13, held firmly against the axis by set screw 14, with the axis 13 being rotatable in the support 11b mounted on the support 11a which in turn is mounted on the lower compartment 8 as is illustrated in an enlarged view in FIG. la. In FIG. 1, on the face of the lower instrument compartment is instrument panel 16, and control knob 20a and dial switch 20b, as typical control levers. Handle 13a is actuatable to open the furnace door 10. By virtue of the detachable handle 13a and axis 13 as a result of removable set screw 14, the axis may be withdrawn from its inserted position and inserted from an opposite direction whereby the furnace door 10 is openable with the handle 13a located on the right side of the unit instead of the left side of the unit, whereby dependent upon the preference of a right-handed or left-handed person, the arm handle 13a is utilizable either as a left-handed or righthanded handle.

FIG. 2 typically illustrates in cross-section the slide mechanism showing the slide female structure 9a mounted on the compartment 7 and the male insert'9 matable therewith and mounted on the lower compartment 8. Compartment 7 includes insulation 115.

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternative embodiment from,

that of FIG. 1, differing principally only in that the door is removably mounted on the upper furnace compartment by virtue of one or more upwardly extending threaded shafts such as shaft 17 insertable through a respective aperture in the mounting structure llc,'and typically abutterfiy female head 18 being screwable downwardly onto the shaft 17. Other parts substantially correspond to those of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 illustrates the male electrical connector mounted on the upper furnace compartment 7b and having male elements 21a, 21b, and 21c, for insertion into the female unit 23 mounted on connector cord 22.

FIG. 5 illustrates merely a variation on the embodiments illustrated above, whereby the door is slidably mounted and by removal ofa set screw in the end of the door is detachable from the tracks 19. Parts substantially correspond to those of other embodiments except convenience to industry by having a furnace compartment totally detachable from the instrumentation compartment by an easily operated detaching mechanism such as the illustrated slide device. It should be noted hat typically a screw such as the phillips screw 14a of FIG. 1a prevents the upper unit from becoming detached from the lower unit. Also, as described above,

although it is preferable that the door and hinge mecha-' though a preferred attaching mechanism ofa sliding arrangement identified as slide mechanism 9 and 9a are illustrated, it is clearly within the scope of the invention to use any suitable and/or desirable and/or conventional attaching means by which the two compartments may be easily connected and disconnected with reasonable speed. Also, as an alternative, the male device may be mounted on the instrumetnation panel and the female connector mounted on the furnace compartment, or as another typical variation the female element may be mounted within the side of typically the instrumentation unit and the male elements may be mounted on a cord extending from the furnace unit.

Similarly, there may be other variations, substitutions of equivalent parts, and modifications as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in this field.

We claim:

1. A plug-in furnace comprising in combination: a furnace unit means defining a heat-insulation-lined heating-chamber having operatively mounted electrical heating elements heatable of the heating chamber, and a first electrical connector jack means for connecting said elements to a power-source and regulator means, said unit means being separate from and including first structure means for removably attaching to a powersource and regulator means, said unit means includes ceramic lining, and a power source j and regulator means for regulating furnace temperature having a second electrical connector jack means matablewith said first jack means, and second structure means for matably attaching to said first structure, a mounted furnace door means for opening and closing saidport throughchannel, said door means comprising a hinge-mounted door and an actuating handle, said handle being removably mounted on said door and reversibly mountable and extendable in an opposite direction thereby said handle being mountable for alternatively left-handed and right-handed persons.

2. A plug-in furnace comprising in combination: a furnace unit means defining a heat'insulation-lined heating-chamber having operatively mounted electrical heating elements heatable of the heating chamber, and a first electrical connector jack means for connecting said elements to a power-source and regulator means, said unit means including ceramic lining, and a power source and regulator means for regulating furnace temperature having a second electrical connector jack means matable with said first jack means, and second said port into said furnace unit means mounted on said power-source and regulator means, and a mounted furnace door means for opening and closing said port through-channel, said door means comprising a hingemounted door and an actuating handle, said handle being removably mounted on said door and reversibly mountable and extendable in an opposite direction, thereby said handle being mountable for alternatively left-handed and right-handed persons.

l t k 

1. A plug-in furnace comprising in combination: a furnace unit means defining a heat-insulation-lined heating-chamber having operatively mounted electrical heating elements heatable of the heating chamber, and a first electrical connector jack means for connecting said elements to a power-source and regulator means, said unit means being separate from and including first structure means for removably attaching to a power-source and regulator means, said unit means includes ceramic lining, and a power source and regulator means for regulating furnace temperature having a second electrical connector jack means matable with said first jack means, and second structure means for matably attaching to said first structure, a mounted furnace door means for opening and closing said port through-channel, said door means comprising a hinge-mounted door and an actuating handle, said handle being removably mounted on said door and reversibly mountable and extendable in an opposite direction thereby said handle being mountable for alternatively left-handed and righthanded persons.
 2. A plug-in furnace comprising in combination: a furnace unit means defining a heat-insulation-lined heating-chamber having operatively mounted electrical heating elements heatable of the heating chamber, and a first electrical connector jack means for connecting said elements to a power-source and regulator means, said unit means including ceramic lining, and a power source and regulator means for regulating furnace temperature having a second electrical connector jack means matable with said first jack means, and second structure means for matably attaching to said first strucure, said furnace unit means and said power-source and regulator means jointly include attaching and locking structure rendering one removably attachable to the other, said unit including ceramic lining, said furnace door means further including port structure defining a port through-channel extending through a wall of said furnace unit and sufficiently large dimensions to insert and remove specimens into and from said furnace respectively, and means for opening and closing said port into said furnace unit means mounted on said power-source and regulator means, and a mounted furnace door means for opening and closing said port through-channel, said door means comprising a hinge-mounted door and an actuating handle, said handle being removably mounted on said door and reversibly mountable and extendable in An opposite direction, thereby said handle being mountable for alternatively left-handed and right-handed persons. 